The hugely popular /r/soccerstreams discussion platform on Reddit has effectively shut down. The subreddit has well in excess of 420,000 subscribers but following a final warning from Reddit's administrators over links to matches illegally posted by users, the sub has voluntarily put an end to all user submissions.

Today the EU Parliament and Council were supposed to agree on the final text of Article 13, known for its potential "upload filters." However, the negotiations were cancelled after the Member States failed to agree on a final negotiating position. This means that the finalization of the copyright reform plans is delayed again.

In 2015, Portugal introduced a voluntary 'pirate' site-blocking regime against torrent, streaming, and similar sites, with zero court orders needed. Now the campaign has been extended to include the blocking of live sports streams, initially soccer matches. Again, the process is entirely voluntary with no injunctions required.

The BitTorrent protocol has a decentralized nature but the ecosystem surrounding it has some weak spots. Torrent sites, for example, use centralized search engines which are prone to outages and takedowns. Torrent-Paradise tackles this problem with IPFS, a searchable torrent indexer that's shared by the people.

LinkoManija.net, the most visited torrent site in Lithuania and the 18th most popular site, period, must be blocked by ISPs, a court has ruled. The case has been ongoing for two years and is likely to open the doors to widespread 'pirate' site blocking in the country.

The developer of pirate streaming app TVZion is so angry at people accessing his pro version for free that he's threatened to start retaliatory action against pirates. Storing IP addresses and usage habits, turning machines into cryptominers, and using devices as unpaid proxy servers are all on the table.

Dutch anti-piracy group BREIN is among the most active civil copyright enforcement groups in the world. This week the group announced its 2018 achievements, which includes the shutdown of pirate sites and IPTV vendors, as well as settlements with uploaders. These efforts will continue in the year to come, when BREIN also plans to ramp up its efforts against uploaders.

Photographer Kristen Pierson Reilly has filed a lawsuit against Facebook for failing to respond properly to a DMCA notice. The social network refused to remove a copy of her photo, stating that it wasn't clear whether its use was infringing. In a complaint filed in a federal court in New York, Pierson now demands compensation for the damage she suffered.

Following a dispute over informal 'pirate' site blocking requests sent to ISPs in Austria by rights holders, several providers reported themselves to the authorities for potential net neutrality breaches. This caused the local telecoms regulator to assess whether informal blocking requests should be actioned. It now transpires, they should not.

New laws set to be tabled in Singapore this year will target the sale of piracy-configured media devices and software. The proposals also seek to prevent individuals from installing piracy software on devices for a fee, post-sale.

Officers from Brazil's Federal Police have launched a broad anti-piracy operation targeting the illegal distribution of music, movies, TV shows, and games. Operation Copyright saw the execution of several warrants in five key regions. Several torrent sites are reportedly down.

A seized domain name of a website that provided information about the Popcorn Time software, has resulted in an intriguing legal battle. Several organizations, including Electronic Frontier Norway informed a local court that the seizure went too far. To prove their point, EFN published "An illegal book?" which consists of a printout of the site in question.

Vimeo has been ordered to pay Italian broadcasting giant €8.5m in compensation after failing to take down copyrighted TV shows. The Rome Court of Appeals also ordered the US-based video service to prevent future uploads of the content or face 1,000 or euros in fines for each offense.

A 'Vader' fan film published by the "Star Wars Theory" YouTube channel has been hit with a copyright claim. While the channel's owner was told that he could not monetize the production, the video is now running ads for Warner/Chappell, which owns the rights to the original Star Wars theme music. The issue angered many Star Wars fans but the music publisher doesn't plan to back down.

A group of prominent representatives of the audiovisual and sports sectors, including the MPA and the Premier League, are calling for a suspension of the current Article 13 negotiations. The companies suggest that a case currently before the EU Court of Justice may give them a 'better deal' than the copyright reform proposal.

Last month, IPTV set-top box manufacturer Infomir announced cooperation with rightsholders to block access to 'pirate' streams. It now appears the system to block allegedly infringing portals can be circumvented, either with a DIY technique or by downloading custom firmware.

This coming Monday, lawmakers hope to reach agreement on the final text of the controversial Article 13. Whatever direction the proposal goes, there's bound to be some disappointment. Opponents fear invasive censorship, while proponents see it as a lifebuoy for the music industry.

The Pirate Bay's upload functionality has been broken for more than two days. This means that users are unable to upload any new torrents to the site. The problems are likely cause by a technical problem but it's unclear how long it will last.